Senate Blasts INEC, Summons Jega

Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi (right) welcoming the Chaplain to Queen of England, Rev. Canon George Kovoor to Government House, Port Harcourt, during a courtesy visit to Rivers State, on Monday.

Worried by the spate of complaints and unimpressive reports trailing the ongoing voters registration exercise across the country, the  Senate on resumption yesterday expressed dissatisfaction with the exercise and summoned the  Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) , Prof. Attahiru Jega to the chambers, today to explain reasons for the poor performance of the exercise.

The senate also directed the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai  to re-open schools which had remained closed nationwide due to the ongoing voters registration exercise ‘as soon as possible’.

These resolutions of the Senate came on the heels of a motion moved by the Deputy Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba on the difficulties being experienced by Nigerians in the on-going registration exercise.

Senator Ndoma-Egba in his presentation had expressed fears that the problems of the voters registration exercise and the inability of millions of Nigerians who were willing to be registered to be captured are danger signs to free, fair and credible elections in April.

Regretting the disappointments trailing the exercise, he lamented that the high bill of N87billion paid by Nigerian tax payers to have a credible voters registration exercise was not justified.

His words, “There has been widespread report of all sorts of problems. Several registration centres in my constituency and nationwide have not received the DDC machines. The NYSC people are boycotting the exercise for non-payment of allowances. The consequences of all these problems are that the process of free, fair and credible elections is likely to be undermined because the substantial proportion of people will not be registered” .

All the Senators who contributed on the floor listed series of complaints and challenges facing several senatorial districts and constituencies across the country.

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu said Nigerians were suffering double jeopardy  as a result of the shoddy registration exercise and the forceful closure of schools.

“We are suffering a double jeopardy, schools are closed and we are not getting the expected results from the voter registration exercise,” he lamented.

Senator Ayogu Eze, regretting the hitches so far recorded argued that if INEC could not conduct a credible fresh voters registration exercise for Nigerians , it should do well to go back to the old register , dust it and update it to save Nigerians the sufferings they are passing through now.

Senator Uche Chukwumerije had stated that the lapses so far recorded were only forerunners to the April elections.

Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Olorunibe Mammorah in his contribution emphasised the need to amend the Electoral Act to accommodate the challenges being raised in registering eligible voters.

He condemned the closure of schools for the exercise, saying it amounted to the ‘denial of rights of children’ which he said was unnecessary.

According to Senator Ahmed Lawan, “‘it is only the Chairman of INEC that believes that the exercise is a success while all Nigerians think otherwise. We have no choice but to amend the Electoral Act to allow for more time to capture more people. I am actually worried that the one man, one vote policy may no longer count considering the way the INEC chairman is going”.

In his remarks, Senator  Mark expressed worries that the commission might disappoint the teeming Nigerians who are determined to make their votes count.

Addressing Senate correspondents on the closed door session of the Senate at resumption of plenary, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Information, Senator Ayogu Eze reiterated the commitment of the Senate to accelerate the passage of 2011 Appropriation Bill , the Anti-Corruption Bill, the Petroleum Industry Bill and the FOI Bill.

His words “We want to make sure that we fulfill the promise we made to Nigerians that we will pass the Freedom of Information Bill within the life of this legislature, this sixth Senate. Very soon, we will be slating that Bill for third reading.

“I want to assure Nigerians that we are determined to pass that Bill and also to pass the Anti-Corruption Bill, because it’s a very crucial Bill that we need to pass, first of all to conform to international practice and to convince our development partners that we are very serious on the issue of cleaning up our house and fighting corruption with our gloves on”.

Senator Eze also assured that the Senate was not only determined to pass FOI Bill but also to pursue it to make sure that it was signed within the life of the sixth Senate.